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I heard a story that John Conway decided on the train on the way to university that he was going to turn over a new leaf and be outgoing and talkative, and then
by andy99 9mo ago
I heard a story that John Conway decided on the train on the way to university that he was going to turn over a new leaf and be outgoing and talkative, and then was.
- nuancebydefault 9mo agoI had a business trip with someone who very easily started talking to strangers, but he wasn't even a very fast or smooth talker, but he felt very agreeable when communicating. Back then I felt jealous of that trait. I said to myself I want to be like that, just be able to do smaltalk with strangers. And I simply tried, within weeks I was able to do just that, even with people much prettier or confident than me, and I never looked back. Over time a feel i need to hold myself back even. Often I have to say to myself: there's no point starting a talk now other than my own feeling good about it, so I hold it in.
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- wumms 9mo agoFrom https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jul/23/john-horton-conway-the-most-charismatic-mathematician-in-the-world https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jul/23/john-horton-...: As he sat on the train to Cambridge, it dawned on him that since none of his classmates would be joining him at university, he would be able to transform himself into a new person: an extrovert! He wasn’t sure it would work. He worried that his introversion might be too entrenched, but he decided to try. He would be boisterous and witty, he would tell funny stories at parties, he would laugh at himself – that was key. “Roughly speaking,” he recalled, “I was going to become the kind of person you see now. It was a free decision.”
- goopypoop 9mo agoi have fond memories of my own decision to become a tosser